Running in the Rain
by Fawnfire
Summary: Conspiracy is a potent poison breeding doubt in the hearts of New York's finest CSIs. One question sticks in the mind of an investigator when clues start pointing to them for murder. Where oh where do you run when you can't hide?
1. Meet the Twins

**Revised as of June 27, 2011. **

* * *

The loud droning ring of the Westclox alarm clock woke Kyle just before 8:40 pm on that fateful Monday. The 21 year old brown haired CSI quickly shut off the erratic machine and climbed briskly from his bed, cursing silently under his breath. Kyle made his way hurriedly into the kitchen while pulling on a fresh T-Shirt. The room was white from top to bottom, the only variation in color coming from the smooth tan wooden floor and the matching counter top. The floor of the room and the kitchen area lay a step higher than the center of the room, which was piled full of plain brown boxes.

"Jane we're late! Come on, get up!" He shouted frantically as he charged past the stacks of unopened moving boxes. Across the kitchen a pale white door opened and a girl sharing many similarities to Kyle hopped out, fully dressed in a pair of pale blue jeans, a green shirt and a slate grey jacket. The woman was hectically pulling on a black and white converse sneaker as she hopped into the open room. Behind her followed a massive grey mottled shape. The shape barked and jumped around the room franticly.

"Shhhhh Kryptonite, it's okay, calm down!" Jane pulled on her shoe and whistled softly. Jane gingerly calmed the wary animal before snagging a pair of car keys from the kitchen counter and nodding to Kyle before they headed for the door.

Kyle and Jane charged down stairs from there apartment, taking the stairs two at a time down four floors. Finally the pair burst out into the morning air of Manhattan, only to continue their race to an unfaithful looking Toyota. Jane opened the driver side door and slid into the leather seat in one swift motion.

By the time Jane had the keys in the ignition Kyle was seated beside her with his seat belt clicked and pulled tight. Kyle bared his teeth and checked the time on the dashboard clock. 8:47 it read. Jane closed her eyes as she turned the key in the ignition.

"I'm sorry about the oil change that never happened, but I promise you, there will be a hot wax in your future if you start."

The car roared to life, and a moment later the silver car whipped out of the small parking space and narrowly missed a rusty Honda pulling onto the busy city streets of New York.

Kyle silently wished he'd driven.

* * *

By 8:56 Jane had pulled up to a professional looking building just as the old car stalled and died. Kyle led the way into the building and headed straight for the front desk. The husky looking man seated behind the large oak desk directed them to the New York Crime Lab and Kyle and Jane found themselves in an elevator on the way up to the Lab.

It was the first time that day that the two had a moment of peace. "So, you nervous?" Kyle asked Jane, who was staring at the floor wordlessly.

Slim and brown haired like her brother, she looked up at Kyle before speaking. "No, not really, what about you?"

Kyle shrugged. "A little bit. It's our first day on the job in New York, and we're late." Jane snorted and flashed a toothy grin as she checked her watch. "It's 8:58, we're not late, in fact, we're two minutes early." Kyle tried to grin but it was more of a grimace. The elevator rang once before the doors opened and they stepped out onto clean linoleum.

Kyle felt suddenly anxious and nervous all at once as he saw the place, organized and absolutely teeming with activity. People in bright white lab coats moved among the many lab areas as they worked diligently to solve the many homicide cases of New York.

Detective Mac Taylor stood alongside a technician, who relayed the results of a DNA analysis to him when Kyle and Jane stepped warily from the elevator. As the technician finished speaking with Mac and scurried away did Mac notice the two figures. The new arrivals were hard to miss, being the only stationary objects that wasn't a wall or something else solid and inanimate.

Mac made his way to them before they were given the chance to ask for any help on where to go. "I'm Detective Mac Taylor, your the transfers from Florida right?" He asked in his normal mundane tone.

"Yeah, I'm Kyle and this is Jane." Kyle said coyly. Mac wasn't surprised by the striking similarities in the siblings. He'd been over their files, and while it hadn't mentioned they were twins, it was clear they were closer than most brothers and sisters. Seeing them in person, Mac didn't have a doubt in his mind that they were twins.

Almost as soon as the three had gotten to the office another Detective joined them. She was a tall woman with curly hair that brushed her elegant shoulders. Stella, Kyle and Jane got acquainted quickly while Mac gathered a few things from his desk.

"Transfers?" She asked, and smiled when Kyle nodded. "Don't look so nervous, Mac's already had breakfast. He won't be vicious again until lunch time."

After giving Stella a particularly crooked look, he thumbed through a few files and handed forms to each of the two transfers. "You'll need these forms to receive your NYPD badges, and your registered gun."

Mac also gave them each a locker key before sending them back to the first floor to verify the forms and fill out the rest of the paperwork.

Jane's hand already hurt from filling out the first page of paperwork. Beside her she guessed that Kyle wasn't doing any better. They stood at a counter in the precinct, manned by a tall blond haired officer chewing gum and listening to music on a lime grime Ipod. He'd already questioned why Kyle and Jane looked alike. After Kyle explained that him and Jane were twins the officer wanted to know why they weren't tan from living down south.

"We're vampires." Jane had replied, and although Kyle knew that his sister was joking, the other officer didn't seen sure of it. Kyle grinned at his sister as he worked on filling out the forms.

"I don't think you've changed at all since first grade." Beside him Jane scribbled her name one last time before replying.

"Hey I color in the lines now," she remarked as she turned in her paperwork. Kyle followed suit soon after his sister, and they stood patiently as the young officer behind the desk looked through the forms before getting up and going to a storage room. When he returned he had a small brown storage box with a label on one side. The officer opened the box and handed each of the twins a holstered weapon, accompanied by a long winded speech that Jane guessed must have something to do with protocol.

Kyle strapped the holster around his waist, happy to have his gun back. Since his Florida badge had been revoked, he wasn't permitted to carry a gun until he had his NYPD badge. Beside him his sister already had her gun on and secured safely. The officer behind the desk handed them each a NYPD badge as he spoke. "Welcome to the NYPD."

"Thanks." Kyle and Jane said simultaneously. Jane gave Kyle a playful shove once they were in the elevator. "I think he was scared." She said.

Kyle grinned. "Of you." Jane flashed one of her trademark grins at her brother, knowing he was only kidding. Once more the elevator dinged and the two stepped out into the Crime Lab and made there way back to Mac's office, only to catch him on his way out.

"There's a homicide at a warehouse downtown, are you two ready for a case?" Mac asked.

"Yeah, that'd be great." Kyle answered hastily, he was anxious to get to work.

Mac nodded to Kyle's response. "Do you two need a ride?"

"Maybe. Do you think the Celica's going to start?" Kyle asked his sister.

"I can talk her around, get her to go a little farther before we have to wash it."

"Sounds like you have an older car?" Mac retorted, something like a smile touching his face.

"She means well," Jane replied, "she's just not one for the mornings."

* * *

With only a brief coaxing from Jane the Celica rumbled to life. Kyle watched, bemused as Jane gave the steering wheel a pat.

"That's our girl."

* * *

After a good fifteen or so minutes of maneuvering through the busy city streets, the black Avalanche pulled into a parking space of an empty lot. Mac pulled a silver case from the Avalanche and joined the twins at the Celica.

Kyle followed Jane to the trunk as she popped it open. Kyle and Jane grabbed their kits and Kyle closed the trunk with one hand, only to have it pop back open to his dismay.

Jane grinned and watched as her brother tried once more. "Hey, be nice to Gretta." Jane said as she handed her kit to Kyle. "She's a good car that's going to look wonderful with new tires." The trunk closed on Jane's first attempt, and with a turn of the key she made sure it would stay that way.

Once inside, Kyle turned a full circle and took one long look at the warehouse. The yellow Crime Scene tape was placed around the perimeter, tied to lamp posts and fire hydrants, and beyond the tape a surprising lack of news crews and a curious crowd.

Before he could voice his disappointment a tall dark haired detective wearing a sharp looking suit and tie greeted the three as they ducked under the crime scene tape. "Hey Mac," He said, but he froze as he noticed the twins.

"Don, this is Kyle and Jane Parks, they're the new transfers from Florida." Mac said as they made their way into the warehouse. Don nodded and Jane noticed the amused look on his face, and as he opened his mouth to ask the common question Jane cut him off with a good hearted grin on her face. "Don't say it, we're twins."

Don nodded again, "I thought so."

"So what do we have Flack?" Mac asked as he kneeled beside a body.

"Male, 26, no ID. He's got no wallet and pockets are turned out. Looks like a robbery."

Kyle pulled his flashlight from his kit and put on a fresh pair of latex gloves as he started examining the crime scene. The warehouse was large, and rather empty, old crates and boxes were stacked in random places in no specific order, the air conditioner was clearly not working, and on one side a large heavy white curtain hung down, blocking off half of the ware house. Along the wall, close to the curtain was a large power box that looked rather new compared to the rest of the ware house. Just below the power box a large coiling hose was dripping cold water onto the floor, and the sound echoed threw out the ware house as the CSI's began to process the seen. Along on of the walls was a rusty metal stair way that led behind the curtain.

"What's with the lack of a crowd?" Kyle asked Don as he inspected the victim with Mac.

"This part of town is relatively deserted not many people come around here because of all the industrial factories, it's not all that populated."

Mac looked up at Don from where he was. "Who found the body?"

Jane was snooping around by the hose, and crouched down beside it to examine the yellow rubber. The hose was free of corrosion, and compared to the rest of the ware house, it looked rather new.

"Andy Daris, he said he was on a mid morning jog when he heard a pop coming from the warehouse, he came inside and found our vic." Don replied.

Kyle was shaking his head. "Who goes for a morning jog in a industrial part of town?" Don nodded.

"Let's be honest, brother. If you were insecure about your weight would you go jogging through central park?" Looking over from the hose, Jane waited for Kyle to look up, a grin tugging at her lips.

Don frowned, an expression that was more amused than dismayed. "You're self conscious about your weight?" The detective was eying Kyle speculatively.

"I love every pound I have to my name," Kyle assured Flack.

Like the good investigator Jane was pretending to be, she went back to the hose, going over it's length with her flashlight. She managed to keep the grin out of her voice but not off her face when she spoke.

"I'm sure you do, and I really didn't want to say anything, but you've been looking a little beefy around the middle. Might want to do some sit ups or something."

Mac was contenting himself with examining the body. "COD was a single gun shot wound to the chest it looks like, TOD was maybe a few hours ago..."

Kyle nodded. "What's with this?" He asked as he shined his light at a green leaf of some sort, then Kyle gingerly picked it up and examined it before passing it to Mac.

"I don't know, but we'll find out." Mac declared as he dropped the leaf into a brown evidence bag.

Jane was still busy examining the hose, she was now leaning over it trying to figure out why it bothered her.

"Did you find something Jane?" Mac called over his shoulder. Jane stood and shrugged.

"Nope."

Don took one last look around before going to talk to Andy Daris again.

"I'm gonna check out the stairway, maybe there's something up there..." At that Jane began to examine the rusty stairway, as she climbed up the steps she noticed that the stairs led a to a railing that stretched around the perimeter of the warehouse, suspended roughly ten feet up..

Kyle and Mac looked around, examining the boxes and many dusty crates scattered through out the large ware house. Kyle lifted the wooden top of a box off, and peered inside, but the box was empty. He continued to search for evidence of any kind throughout the many boxes.

"This place looks a lot like our apartment." Kyle said with a sigh.

Mac paused to shoot Kyle a cynical look. "Do you often entertain with dead bodies?"

Shaking his head, Kyle looked to his new boss, his joke plain in his eyes. "Well, it's really the entertainment that kills them."

"The bodies I can understand. They'll fit rather snugly into a closet, but where the hell are you hiding this?" called Jane from across the warehouse, she was standing by the white curtain, holding it back with one hand and staring past it with a surprised look on her face. Jane started to pull the heavy curtain back, revealing rows and rows of leafy green plants. Mac and Kyle walked towards the indoor garden.

"You know," Jane started as she stared at the plants, "It used to be that people weeded their gardens, now they garden their weed." She said with an amused look on her face.

Mac looked around, shining his light across the plants, then he shined his light up, towards the high ceiling. A series of heavy duty hanging lights were placed above the plants, and Mac had a pretty good idea why. He made his way to the metal grey box on the wall, he examined the grey panel before opening it to flip the switch inside. The warehouse filled with light, bright but nowhere near blinding.

"The lights serve as sunlight for the plants," Kyle started, "And the hose is used for watering them." He finished.

"Why not just use the sprinkler system?" Jane piped up, as she shined her light across the sprinkler system that wound throughout the ware house.

"The lights are suspended below the sprinkler system, which react to heat that would be created from the lights being on and that would trigger the system. The water from the sprinklers would fall onto the lights, damaging them." Mac explained as he looked at the lights and the sprinkler system.

"So the sprinkler system is broken, either from someone breaking it, or from natural causes..." Jane said. Mac nodded. Kyle began to pace, something he did often while he was thinking.

"So there's a drug scandal set up, someone would have had to come here to take care of all these plants by watering them, and turning the lights on and off. It makes sense that the vic was here if he was involved in drugs, but who would kill someone here, while he's harvesting his plants?"

"Maybe he had a partner, and things went south." Mac suggested. "Then maybe that partner's coming back for the plants."

"You wouldn't just leave them all here. All these plants have got be worth a lot of cash." Jane added. Kyle stopped pacing.

"Then maybe that certain partner is coming back, but when he does, all he's going to find is a crime scene."

"I'll let Flack in on what we know so far, you two keep processing." Mac said before he went to find Flack, leaving Kyle and Jane to process the scene.

"I'll check around the body for any more evidence." Kyle declared.

Jane nodded, "Okay, I'll dust the hose and box for prints, and photograph the garden." At that the two twins set off to there work. Kyle pulled a swab from his kit to collect a sample of a dark liquid substance on the vic's jeans before he photographed the scene. He also found a white powdery substance on the vic's shirt sleeve that he collected for trace, though he already suspected that it was a drug of some sort.

Jane dusted the electric box from top to bottom with her finger print powder she carried in her kit and had just started dusting the hose when two men with a stretcher walked into the warehouse. "We're here for the body?"

Kyle nodded to them, "It's all yours." The two men moved the body onto the stretcher and took him away to leave Kyle and Jane to their daunting task.


	2. Learning the Ropes

Processing the scene at the ware house was a harder and more time consuming task then Kyle had thought it to be. After trekking threw the illegally grown garden and searching threw the plants for any more evidence, prints, or possible trace. The twins soon discovered that the plants were put into individual tin tubs of soil and set into rows. In all the twins counted eight rows and five columns.

"That's 40 in all." Kyle declared, sounding a little weary. Mac, Kyle and Jane stood staring at the rows of plants yet to be removed from the ware house. A team of officers was being sent to the ware house to remove the marijuana plants, but they had yet to arrive when Mac decided it was time to head bck to the lab to go over what they had already collected so far.

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Back at the lab there was a lot to go over, there were many prints to be ran threw CODIS and AFIS and lots of unknown substances to examine. Mac got called off on another case, leaving Kyle and Jane to there work, which was perfectly fine with them. Jane scanned the prints from the hose first, and let the computer search for a match while she helped Kyle look over the dark substance on the vic's pants. "I swabbed this, but I'm not sure what it is." Kyle explained as Jane joined him at a white lab table, he was holding a swab and looking at it with a magnifying glass, the swab was dark with a black substance on the tip.

Jane looked around for an empty beaker, she found one quickly and placed it on the lab table while Kyle cut the tip of the Q-tip off, letting the end fall into the beaker. Kyle then added water to the beaker while Jane got a syringe to take a sample of the mixture. Kyle emptied the syringe into a smale vile with a snap on lid. He placed the vile in a machine adn tapped a keys on a silver computer key board to start the machine. Just then the computer across the room beeped, Jane made her way back to the computer, the computer had found a match to an X-Con.

"Looks like we got our drug partner Ky. His name is Terri Johnson, busted twice for possession of drugs, and he spent 5 years in the clink, looks promising." Jane finished just as a tall guy walked into the lab, he had brown hair and wore glasses, following behind him was a shorter girl, with blonde hair that brushed her shoulders, she smiled widely as she saw the twins. "Hi, I'm Lindsey and this is Danny, your Kyle and Jane right?" Lindsey said sweetly. Kyle nodded, "Yeah, nice to meet you both."

"Like wise," Danny said, and Jane grinned at his thick New York accent. Unfortunately the introduction was cut short by Mac's return to the lab. "So what do we know so far?" He asked the twins as they walked down to the Medical Examiner's office to learn anything provided by the autopsy. Kyle spoke first. "That leaf we found next to the DB was a marijuana leaf, but surprisingly enough, it had traces of limonene on it."

"Limonene is an essential oil in Oranges and Lemons, so how did traces of Limonene get on a marijuana leaf?" Mac questioned. Kyle shrugged. "I haven't figured that out yet, but maybe who ever handled the leaf had the trace on their own hands and it was just a transfer." Mac nodded. "What else?"

"We might have found who the Vic's partner might be, the prints on the watering hose came back to a Terri Johnson, and he's got a history with drugs." Mac nodded once more as they stepped into the ME's office. The air was drafty and cooler in the morgue, and along one wall there were cooler's placed along the wall were bodies were stored. The recent patients of the Meical Examiner were layed out on the examining tables with long blue sheets draped over them. Mac led the way to the DB of the ware house victim, a man with white hair and kind eyes met them there, and after a quick introduction Sid, the ME began to explain the COD and TOD of the un ID'd vic.

"Cause of death was the gun shot wound to the chest, the bullet entered your vic, collapsed a lung and severed several main arteries. I managed to retireve the bullet for you, and I even found some trace under his nails. It's a white powdery substance, I suspect it to be heroin but that's really up to you to confirm. Unfortunately, other than that, that's all I have for you. There were no additional injury's, and although your vic was a drug user, he was relatively healthy." Sid concluded the autopsy briskly, and after he gave the bullet retrieved from the body to Mac, they decided it was time to pay Terris Johnson a visit.

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	3. A Carless Garage

Terris Johnson owned a car shop on 51st street, which made finding the suspect rather easy, but interrogating him was another story. Terris was tall, with black hair and a distinctive scar on his lower left cheek. As Mac, Kyle and Jane made their way into the car shop they saw the work place of their suspect. The shop was small, with white walls and smooth grey floors. A stair well along the wall led to a balcony with white railing and the same smooth floor as the garage. Along the white walls were several tool boxes. The bright white lights hanging from the ceiling illuminated the garage, and showed that there wasn't a car in sight.

Mac led the way into the garage, followed by the twins, they walked threw the open garage door and headed straight for the front counter. Terris Johnson was standing at the counter, there was a mutinous look on his scarred face, and it was clear that any interrogation was going to be met with a resistance. And it was. "Were closed." Terris Johnson said as the three made it to the counter. "Maybe this will change your mind." Mac said as he flashed his NYPD badge. Terris didn't seem surprised, but rather disturbed. "Alright then, what do you want to know?" He questioned with a menacing glare.

"Do you know this man?" Kyle said as he placed a photo of the ware house victim in front of Terris. The suspect looked at the photo, the menace in his glare seemed to deteriorate as he spoke. "Yeah, that's Mike Westley." Kyle nodded. "How well did you know Mike?" Terris shrugged. "We used to be close, I haven't seen him in awhile though."

"Define 'awhile'." Jane chimed in from where she stood next to Kyle, her expression unreadable. Terris thought for a moment. "A few months." Mac didn't seemed convinced. "Then you won't mind explaining how we found your print at the crime scene." Terris frowned. "Crime scene?"

"Your friend Mike was found dead in an abandoned ware house on 51st street, we found your prints at the crime scene, along with enough marijuana to put someone away for a very long time." Mac explained. Terris's demeanor changed. An uneasy tension settled in the air.

"I didn't kill him. I didn't like Mike, but I wouldn't kill the guy." Terris said flatly. Kyle didn't trust Terris, not for a minute. "So what's with this empty garage, is buisness slow or is this just some kind of cover up for what's really going on here." The frown on Terris's dark face deepend. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You spent time behind bars for dealing drugs. The marijuana at the ware house along with your print leads us to believe you were involved in the killing that took place there." Mac explained.

"I wasn't at that ware house, and I didn't kill Mike." Terris declared. "We'll see." Mac said as they left. The wind had picked up slightly once the three had gotten outside. "Do you think Terris was telling the truth?" Kyle asked as they walked back to the car. Mac was shaking his head. "I don't think Terris is telling the truth, the evidence says other wise, he was at that ware house." Jane shrugged from where she stood, her hands were jammed into her jacket pockets, something she commonly did when she was lost in thought. "I don't know... We know he was at the ware house, his print proves that, but maybe he didn't kill Mike."

Kyle gave his sister an incredulous look. "Your saying you trust Terris?" Jane's eyes held a strong sense of contempt. "I trust that guy about as far as I can throw him, but that doesn't mean he's a murderer."

Suddenly Mac stopped walking, he turned to face the twins as he spoke, his voice as grime as usual. "We need to find the murder weapon then. We need to find the gun that killed Mike Westley, and I think I know how."

Kyle and Jane stared at Mac blankly, they had not the slightest idea of what Mac was thinking, but they would soon find out. Mac drove the Avalanche back to the lab, Kyle was sitting in the passenger seat while Jane sat quietly in the back.

"Terris's garage was bereft of cars, he was at the ware house, and he has motive. Let's run with what we have, all we need is the murder weapon, which might be at Terris's garage." Kyle listened closely as Mac explained, he began to think that his first case in New York was going to be over quickly.

As he would soon find out, he was dead wrong.


	4. Who's hit?

**Ok, so it's been a while since I updated, I mean like months... Sorry, but I think I'm going to begin taking an interest in this story once more.**

**Please read and review, if I see people are reading this I'll start updating regularly, I just need to know if anyone likes this at all.**

**Another thing, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!**

**I hope you all enjoy your turkey day, I know I will. ^.^**

* * *

Jane was leaning over a microscope peering through the optical lens at the swab of oil taken from the ware house crime scene. She was determined to figure out what kind of oil it was. See had examined the cell structure and compared it with many other types of oils, from vegetable to massage oils in fact. Jane had an educated guess that the thick foul smelling liquid was in fact motor oil, but unfortunately she needed proof for the evidence to hold up in court. The thought of being in a court room, the hot dry air and the uneasy feeling that came with testifying for a case was enough to make Jane's head reel.

"What's up J?" Kyle asked cheerily as he walked up to his sister. Jane adjusted the zoom level of the microscopic lens as she answered her brother. "The ceiling." Kyle grinned slightly before he replied to his sisters witty remark. "Did you find out any more about the oil?" "It's motor oil, used for cars and other gas-burning engines." Jane replied before sliding the microscope towards Kyle. After Kyle examined the molecule cell structure of the dark substance he compared it to a digital photo of the cell structure of motor oil he was thoroughly convinced that the substance was in fact motor oil. The computer confirmed the match and he nodded, satisfied with the results.

"So where do we go from here?" Kyle asked, just as Mac made his way into the lab, he had an envelope in hand and held it up for the twins to see. "To the car garage of Terris Johnson." The envelope was a warrant. The twins exchanged looks, silent words passed between them. Kyle felt the tingling in his fingers, for not the first time that day he was swept away with how much he loved his job.

* * *

Kyle checked his gun, it was still holstered, the safety on, and it was completely within easy reach at his waist. It was a comfort thing, and going into a garage with a warrant had proved to spark violent occurrences in the past. It was caution on his part, and while he was intent on fretting on the simplest things that could go wrong his sister was rather uncaring. The nonchalant demeanor wasn't fooling Kyle, having known the lanky girl all his life, he knew she'd be galvanized into action just as fast as himself if something did happen to go wrong.

After gathering a small party of cops, they had set out for the garage, and as they pulled into the short drive they found that little had changed from their previous visit. The main garage door was left ajar, and Terris, their good friend, was seated at the counter. He was looking down scribbling his name on a legal document of some sort.

Mac approached the desk, holding the warrant up. "Were here to take a look around." Terris had a scornful look on his face, and the message was clear in his eyes. He didn't like Mac, and it wasn't a secret. Terris didn't say anything, but he didn't have to. The cops were already sifting through the garage, rummaging through anything and everything.

Joining the party, Kyle and Jane spread out. Still the garage had no cars, and there was little for them to go over. Jane played with her flashlight, twiddling it in her fingers as she examined a door that was closed. She opened the door, finding it led into a back alley way drenched in sun light. Kyle watched her step outside to take a look around, then went to work examining a pipe than ran vertical to the wall.

Suddenly gun fire erupted from outside and Kyle's heart flip flopped wildly in his chest, he slid his gun from his holster and was among the first of the cops, along with Mac, to reach the door. They took up positions on either side, and seeing nothing from their limited views, they slipped out, one at a time. More gunshots rang out, Kyle couldn't see his sister, but he could feel her anger, it seemed to pulse through his own veins.

The alley was narrow, with one road running parallel to the garage, the other was perpendicular to the first, running from the open doorway to the busy city street several yards away. Dumpsters dominated the open space, and Kyle rushed forward to dive behind one. A truck was driving away, a large black Toyota Tundra, the license plate was missing, but the back windows were busted out and the tail gate was lined with bullet holes. The truck was moving down the road to the left of the open door.

"J?!" Kyle heard his voice die off into the silence and he peered through the alley, anxiously awaiting the sight of his sister. He couldn't help but picture her broken body, and he felt sick.

"I'm okay Kyle!" He felt relief shoot through him like a flame as his sister stepped unharmed from behind another dumpster. He felt the anger rolling off her in waves. Mac lowered his gun, and Kyle did the same. Jane had her gun hanging loosely from one hand, she clicked the safety on and holstered the weapon.

"What happened?" Mac asked, cops were spilling out into the alley way left and right behind him. Slowly they made their way back into the garage.

"A lot." Jane said simply, her thoughts seemed a long way off from the present.

"You're bleeding," Mac said, noticing the drying blood on the sleeve of Jane's jacket, she tugged they grey jacket off. Her face was contorted in a disgusted scowl.

"It's not my blood, I wasn't hit."

"Who was?" Mac asked and Jane shrugged.

"Mac, I've been in New York for about a week, I didn't recognize the guy, but I bet if you give me another month or so I could write you a phone book about the residents of New York." Jane's tone was wry, and Mac felt a burst of anger at being mocked He turned to glare at the errant girl, not making any attempt to hide his anger.

"Do you want to run that by me one more time?" He challenged.

Jane returned his fierce glare, "No, I don't, I like my job. I didn't get a good look at either of the guys, they were out here in their truck, when they saw I was a cop they flipped. They started shooting. I shot back. They were laying flat in the truck bed when you two came out. I don't think they liked dodging bullets."

Kyle felt the tension crackling through the air and he felt suddenly very small. He wondered faintly if he'd lose his job if Jane took a swing at their boss. He didn't let Jane take the chance, he liked his job too much. "Hey, you got blood on your T-Shirt, I've got an extra in the car you can borrow." At that Kyle led Jane back to the car.

"Jane, is it really necessary to put both your job and my own in jeopardy on the first day?"

Jane shrugged, "Yes, it is." Kyle rolled his eyes and opened the driver door of the Celica, he reached into the back seat and felt clean fabric in his hands. He pulled out a maroon shirt and passed it to his sister. She unclipped the holster of her gun and laid on the trunk. She tugged her stained shirt off, revealing the navy blue undershirt she was wearing underneath. Jane slipped the clean shirt on over her head, it was an old shirt of Kyle's, one he typically didn't wear too much anymore, but it still was an awkward fit. Kyle popped the trunk, and found an evidence bag to put Jane's bloodied shirt into. He closed the trunk and starred at his sister quizzically, mulling his thoughts over in his mind.

"Your never going to change, are you?"

Jane shrugged, and looked away, a ghost of a grin touching her face, she gestured to her shirt.

"I just did."


	5. Fetch!

**Chapter 5.**

* * *

They examined the alley way critically, not being able to distinguish trash from evidence, they didn't find much than a few oranges and several empty bullet shells.

"I fired twice, here are my two shells, the rest are unknowns." Kyle nodded his assent as he carefully examined a ripened orange.

"Hey, J, do you notice anything odd about this?" He asked, holding it up so she could see it, she shrugged.

"It's an orange. Big deal."

"But it's ripe, I understand finding a half rotten orange in a back alley, but this looks like fresh produce to me." Kyle was mulling his thoughts over, and Jane knew the critical look in his eyes, she could already here Kyle's scientific theory before he said it, and she stopped him quickly.

"It fell off the truck, the two goons were in the truck with pallets of fruit. They all looked like oranges to me." Jane collected another bullet shell and bagged it, she didn't see what Kyle thought was so fascinated. Mac stepped out into the alley, and Kyle shot his sister a warning look as if to say, _be nice!_

Jane returned the look, _yeah, right. _Mac and Kyle spoke for a minute, and Jane paid little attention to them as she continued to investigate the latest crime scene. Finally Kyle came to a conclusion, he spent several minutes explaining his theory to Jane and Mac.

"There were traces of Limonene at the crime scene and on the Vic, now these people shoot up an alley behind Terris's garage with a truck full of fruit."

Mac chimed in, "It seems to me this is all connected, and Terris knows more than he's telling. I think we've got enough evidence for an arrest."

They arrested Terris Johnson and took him into custody with the help of Flack, they took him back to a bustling precinct for questioning, this time intending to get the truth.

"The last time I saw Westley was about a week ago. He wanted help with a drug deal he was setting up. I got out of the business a while back, I served my time and I don't want to go back. When I told him I wouldn't help him one of my clients offered to. I stayed out of it. That's the last I dealt with West, or that customer."

Mac didn't look very convinced by Terris's confession, but it was all they had to go on for the moment.

"Who was this client?" He asked and Terris shrugged.

"I don't know, I don't keep a record. I just fix cars for cash. The car I fixed for them was a Toyota Tundra. It had an ignition problem. The car wouldn't start. I fixed it, collected my fee, and I sent the man on his way." "No name?" Kyle asked, and Terris shook his head.

"I gave you all I got. I'm done here."

Terris was locked up in a cell for the night, and Mac and the twins went up to the lab. They took DNA from the blood spattered on Jane's shirt but came up with no match in any databases they had access to. Kyle noticed his sister was staring at the ground, he knew the look.

"What are you thinking?" He asked. His sister looked up at him, hazel eyes clouded with thoughts.

"I'm thinking that we should take a step back."

Mac was leaning on the lab table, and he turned to look at Jane, he pieced together the puzzle they'd gathered so far.

"We know that the suspects involved with Toyota Tundra are likely the killers, or killer. We know they're involved with some sort of fruit business."

Kyle nodded his assent, "They used simple 9mm Glocks for the job. Nothing special. Same as the murder weapon."

There was silence as the three thought, Mac finally called a break for lunch, and offered to take the twins to a pizza place, Kyle agreed out right, Jane was more reluctant.

"I've got to check up on Kryptonite, he doesn't like being cooped up indoors."

Mac leveled gazes with her, Kyle elaborated.

"Kryptonite's her dog," then he turned to Jane, "You're sure?"

"Yeah, I'll get something on the way back to the lab." Then she said a quick good bye and made her way to the Celica to drive back to the apartment.

Mac took Kyle to a pizza place for lunch as he'd offered, and they got to talking about the city.

"How do you like New York?" Mac asked Kyle.

Kyle shrugged, "It's ok, I kind of miss Florida, I think Jane does to, and Kryptonite. I'm not so sure it's Florida itself they miss though."

"What makes you say that?"

Kyle took a long draft of his soda, "Jane used to be a K9 police when I was a detective. She didn't care too much for my kind of work, not many lower city Dogs' do."

Mac frowned, "Dogs?"

Kyle nodded, "That's what we called the scent teams who worked in the worst part of the city. They're really involved with their work, sometimes I wouldn't see Jane for days at a time, she'd be out until the latest hours of the night, come home and sleep until I left for work. Then she'd get up and do it all over again, she really liked her work."

Mac leaned back in his chair, thinking, he'd read through Jane's profile, as well as Kyle's, and he was curious.

"And what about your work?"

Kyle smiled, "I live for it, I honestly couldn't even consider doing something else for a living."

Jane slipped into the apartment quietly, despite her efforts a mottled shape hurled itself at her. Paws landed on her shoulders, a tongue rasped across her cheek. Jane laughed and ordered her hound down. Kryptonite obeyed, and Jane ruffled the 120 pound German Shepherd dogs' ears. Even for a German Shepherd, Kryptonite was a big dog. Jane fetched his leash and led him down stairs, taking him for a walk. She stopped and bought them each a hot dog.

Kryptonite rarely got such treats, but Jane thought he needed it. He was used to being on duty as a K9 hound for long hours, and he needed more exercise than he was getting. Kryptonite was big boned and tough looking, with a massive snout and large floppy ears. His unusual teal colored eyes gave him his name, and he was highly energetic. He stood as high as Jane's waist, and he was a force to be reckoned with. His coat was dense, with a layer of black fur that gave way to a mixed tan and ginger. Kryptonite's pelt shone in the sunlight, giving it a glossy grey sheen.

Jane walked through a street filled with vendors, Kryptonite trotting at her side. He hardly needed the leash that hung slack from his thick leather collar, Jane held it loosely in one hand that was shoved into one of her pockets.

"Get your fresh produce!" Someone called, and Jane turned to look, a man was leaning on a stack of fresh oranges. Jane narrowed her eyes, she slipped through the crowd like a shadow, Kryptonite advancing to a trot to keep up with her. She took a place in front of the stand.

"How can I help you miss?" The man asked. He was rather tall, fairly well built but a little on the pudgy side. He had thick black hair that was cropped short and covered by a Yankee's baseball cap. With deep set eyes at a good amount of stubble on his face, Jane etched his appearance and face into her mind.

"Just an orange." She said sweetly, passing a bill to the man. Jane picked an orange, and caught the sight of splintered wood on one side of the crate. There was a crater in the edge of the rough pine wood, one just big enough for a bullet to fit there. Jane smiled charmingly at the vendor, "Have many gun fights lately?"

Instantly the man's polite smile turned to a frown of deceit, he shoved his crates over, towards Jane. She slipped out of the way, "Kryptonite fetch!" She let go of the dogs' leash, and the massive beast was off, hot in pursuit. Jane followed at a run, pulling her gun free of it's holster. The crowd parted to let the vicious dog through, they always did. People knew better than to get in the way of a snarling dog that was large enough to be a wolf.

Kryptonite slipped along the ground like little more than a shadow, his paws hardly seemed to touch the ground as he leaped for the fleeing vendor. 120 pounds of fur and teeth snarled as it tripped up it's prey. Both went down in a mix of growling dog and screaming man. Jane caught up with them and called Kryptonite off.

"_Dakota_," Jane told the hound, it was a command word used for Kryptonite, and he slunk back to her side as she drug the vendor to his feet, having already replaced her gun to its holster. Kryptonite's green eyes watched the vendor carefully, he was still intent with his prey. Kryptonite had done no major damage to the vendor, he had a few cuts and scrapes here and there from where he had skidded along the sidewalk, but lucky for him Kryptonite had not bitten down on him hard enough to break the skin.

"I'll give you some advice buddy, don't run from big dogs." The vendor glared at her, and she collected Kryptonite's leash in one hand, and escorted the vendor back to the precinct. If the vendor ran again, she'd let Kryptonite get a chunk out of him.

Mac and Kyle were at the precinct when she got there, she'd never really arrested someone in New York, and she almost didn't know where to go when Mac spotted her.

"There she is," he said, making his way towards her. Kyle followed, letting out a sigh.

"What happened?" He asked, staring at Kryptonite and the handcuffed vendor.

"I took Kryptonite for a walk, but he wanted to go for a run," Jane sounded mostly innocent, if not annoyed. Kryptonite stood obediently at her side, he wagged his tail at Kyle, but didn't leave his place by Jane. Mac raised an eyebrow at Jane inquiringly.

"Care to explain?"

Jane nodded, but she didn't get a chance to explain before Flack walked over, he looked slightly confused.

"What's Andy Daris doing in chains?" Flack asked. Jane recognized the name, and it struck a vague cord in her mind. She'd heard the name before. Mac solved the mystery for her.

"Your the man who found Wesley's body," Mac said, then looked at Jane again. Someone took Andy away to a holding cell, where he protested his abuse from a over grown flee bag. Jane explained why she'd arrested Andy, Kryptonite glued to her side, the leash was tucked into one of Jane's pockets, the other end fastened to Kryptonite's collar.

"So you think he could be our killer?" Flack asked after a moment of silence.

Jane shrugged, "I don't know, he's either involved, or I seriously jumped the gun."

Kyle sighed, "This wouldn't be the first time."

Mac thought seriously for a moment, "I think you may have caught something,' he told Jane.

She shook her head, "I just said 'fetch', Kryptonite did the catching."

* * *

**Please read and review.**


	6. Disposition

**Chapter 6. Please read and review! =P**

* * *

"You're not a K9 handler anymore, you can't just set out with your dog and let him loose on the streets." Mac's voice was stern, and Jane glared at him defiantly.

"It happened once, Mac, he got away from me."

"And went after someone connected to our case? Am I supposed to believe that was just a coincidence?"

"That would make this a lot easier," Jane retorted, her voice full of contempt.

They were in a small interrogation room, Kryptonite stood over a bowl of water, drinking ravenously. He paid little attention to the angered tones of voice around him. Flack and Kyle had slipped away quietly to attend to the case.

"You can't go looking for trouble like this," Mac reprimanded.

"Is that what you think I did?" Jane said, turning to face Mac, she was several inches shorter than him but her fury made up for the difference. "I didn't go looking for anybody Mac, I never meant to run into him alright, but I wasn't about to let him slip through my fingers."

Mac didn't look convinced, and Jane didn't give him time to protest.

"Can you seriously stand here and say that you could look a suspect in the face, one who fired shots at you, and not do a thing about it?" Jane scowled, "I don't know about you, but I was taught to follow a scent when you had one, not wait for the breeze to blow it way."

Mac glared at Jane with a bitter anger in his eyes, "That's not how we do things around here, we don't act on gut instincts, we act with solid facts to back us up."

Jane let out a gruff snort of contempt, "And at what price do you get your facts? Who has to die next?" Jane's voice was softer, the defiance in her eyes all the more fiercer. "If being a CSI means waiting around for the dead to tell their tales then I'm not sure I want to do this anymore." Jane left the room without another word. Mac remained where he was for a while longer, his jaw clenched.

* * *

Jane took Kryptonite home, Kyle saw to it before Mac led him off to question Andy Daris. The man who supposedly found the body sat in the metal chair with his hands on the table, sweet dripping down his face. Every line of his body was tainted with guilt. He'd already given the CSI's a sample of his DNA before hand.

"What do you do for a living Mr. Daris?" Mac asked in an even tone as he took a seat across from Andy.

Daris shifted in his chair, glanced around warily and then dropped his gaze. "I'm a fruit vender."

"Let me guess, you sell oranges," Kyle said, he was standing on one side of the table, to Mac's left, he neglected to take a seat at the empty chair. He thought best on his feet.

The fruit vender shifted some more, both Mac and Kyle taking in his every move. He nodded, "Yes, I do."

"What about drugs? You ever sell any of those?" Mac held Andy's gaze for a moment before the fruit vender shook his head and looked away.

"I'd like to call my lawyer."

Andy refused to tell them anymore after that, and Kyle and Mac went back to the lab. Jane met them on the way up, Kyle felt the air crackle with tension as the three made their way back to a processing table. Mac left them there to work on processing the DNA sample and compare it to the finger prints on the hose at the warehouse.

"Jane,-" Kyle began as he worked.

"Don't say it, allow me to say it for you." Jane said, clearly still vexed. "You think that what I did was completely and totally out of line, and that I owe Mac an apology for arguing, and that I should be shunned for this." Jane turned away from the computer she was typing on and stared at her brother, she raised one arched eyebrow. "Did I leave anything out?"

"Yes, you did. You're forgetting your place-"

"My place?" Jane had turned back to the computer after it beeped. Now she rounded on her brother viciously, frosty fire blazing in her eyes. "I know exactly where my place is Kyle, and you're right, it's not here. It's half way across the continent on a lonely street with a star streaked sky overhead and a dog trotting at my heels."

Kyle sighed, "Jane, I know this isn't easy, but couldn't you try to make this work?"

Jane glanced at her brother, his eyes were pitiful, he'd spread his arms in a helpless gesture. Jane's mouth was set in a thin line, her eyes were stone. "I'm not four Kyle, I can handle myself. I don't need you hanging over my shoulder."

Kyle leaned against the counter top and gave his sister a piteous look, his voice was limp with dread. "Haven't you ever thought that maybe I'm the one who needs you around?"

* * *

Mac retrieved a warrant to search Andy Daris's apartment once they discovered that the prints of the water hose at the ware house did in fact belong to the fruit vender. The man lived alone in a fancy suite of rooms on the richer side of the Bronx, a clear sign that he had money. The white carpeting and newly furnished interior raised suspicions for the CSI's as they shifted through the apartment, looking for a gun of any sort.

Kyle was checking the closet of the master bedroom, rummaging through a box full of what seemed to be mementos. He pushed it aside, finding nothing worth his time. He peered up at the top shelf of the closet and ran a hand over the smooth shelf, something solid found its way under his hand.

Kyle picked up the gun and held it in one gloved hand, "Bingo," he said to himself.

* * *

The gun had Andy's prints all over it, and after an analyzing of the bullet the gun was matched to the bullet found in the unfortunate Vic. Andy Daris's Toyota Tundra was waiting for them down stairs. The bumper and fender were riddled with bullets, one window was shattered. An orange or two had been shredded by a bullet. Along with the pulp of the orange juice was a small pool of blood.

"I wonder who you hit," Kyle said as they examined the truck.

Jane shrugged in response, "You and me both." With a delicate hand Jane swabbed up a bit of the blood and passed it to Kyle. After a moment of examination he nodded.

"Definitely blood."

Neither one of the twins noticed the newcomer until he'd spoken. They looked down from the truck bed to a tall man, with a light russet beard and a shaggy hairstyle to match. He wore a vest over a flannel shirt, he held a kit in one hand and he was grinning broadly.

"I'm Adam, you two must be the new CSI's…" He trailed off, his gaze switching from Kyle to Jane in confusion. "You're…"

"Twins," Kyle and Jane said simultaneously, it was their turn to grin. They introduced themselves and Adam joined them in the tedious examination of the truck from top to bottom.

"Were you both CSI's before?"

Kyle shook his head, "No, I was a detective, and Jane was a K9 handler."

"A K9 eh? What was that like?"

Jane shrugged, "Exhausting, but definitely worth it."

Adam collected a swab of something unidentifiable off the dash board of the truck while Jane rifled through the glove department. Kyle was examining the back seat, and he retrieved one of Jane's bullets from the collection of glass shards.

"What about being twins?" Adam asked as he carefully dusted the steering wheel for prints. "Do you finish each other's sentences and stuff?"

"Sometimes," Kyle retorted, "But we do that because we've known each other for so long, not because we're twins."

Jane frowned, "We've known each other this long because we're twins though."

It was Adam's turn to frown, and Kyle smiled at him apologetically. "You could say being twins is like having a second shadow."

"Or a conscience," Jane quipped. Kyle still wasn't over their recent debate, but he regarded his sister with a calm demeanor. He didn't want to fight with her, and her even paced retort seemed to imply that she didn't want to either. Kyle knew that it was as close to an outright apology as he would get. It wasn't that Jane was arrogant and self centered or prideful, she was simply defiantly determined.

"I think I've got something," Adam said, breaking the silence.

The little interrogation room was small, shuttered, and slightly warm. Jane liked it, the warmth. It was a little taste of Florida for her, and she could tell that it made Kyle right at home as well. This was his game, after all. Jane had taken part in this sort of thing before, but as always it was Kyle who did the heavy hitting. Jane didn't mind that one bit. She didn't like to do the talking on matters like this.

But something was bothering her, Kyle could tell as he set the manila folder down on the table in front of Andy Daris. The man was sweating already. But Jane, Jane was bothered. She seemed… Prickly, somehow. Kyle couldn't put his finger on it, and he didn't think that it mattered all too much at the moment, but something was gnawing at her. He was sure of it, and he was sure that he'd deal with it later.

"So, Andy." Kyle said evenly, the man shifted his weight in his chair unevenly. Nervous. No surprise.

Jane stood, Kyle sat. It was just how they did things when they worked together as they occasionally had in Florida on shifty cases. The way she leaned against the wall and left plenty of space at her feet for her K9 companion was obvious to Kyle. He could almost imagine the shape of the large dog lying at her feet, ears flopping and flicking at the sound of voices.

"Anything you have to say before we start?" Kyle asked, giving Andy a chance to fess up before he started slapping him with the evidence. Andy shook his head and Kyle flipped open the folder and placed the first photo of the victim on the table before Andy. He shied away from the photo.

"Alright then, we'll start the story," Jane offered, she nodded to Kyle.

Kyle smiled, "Once upon a time… A jogger jogging through the abandoned part of town went after his partner in dealing. For more money? Maybe the both of you had an argument?" Kyle paused for a moment, eyeing Andy critically.

"It-it wasn't like you guys think." Andy murmured softly as fixed his gaze on the table in front of him.

"What do us 'guys' think it was like?"

Andy shrugged, "It was an accident. I just went there to get my share of the money, but Wes wouldn't have it." Kyle leaned back in the chair, casually. Wes was a nickname for Westley, the Vic's last name. At least they seemed to be on the same page.

"He said I couldn't get my share until I got Terris back in the game. I'd already tried to get Terris to join up with us again, but he said he wasn't going back to jail for dealing."

Kyle and Jane exchanged looks, shrewd, knowing looks. Andy glanced warily from one twin to the other.

"What are you thinking?"

Jane replied instantly, a short and clipped remark. "That Terris isn't a complete fool."

Kyle gestured for Andy to continue, and feebly he did. "When I didn't get my cut I lost it, I owe money to people you really don't want to owe money to. Not paying up to them just isn't an option."

"Oh, but murder is," Jane said in a reasonable tone, but Kyle caught the sardonic barb in her voice.

"I called the cops, I didn't know what else to do, and then I went to Terris and he said he wasn't going to help me and that I was on my own."

Kyle took in the details silently, but Jane waved one hand lazily at an imaginary score board. "Terris: two, Andy: zip."

Andy eyed her fearfully, giving her the exact reaction that she was looking for. He spilled the beans then, giving them the rest of their story in a rapid flurry of words.

"I got my brothers together and then you showed up at the garage and, and-"

Kyle grunted impatiently, "And then you took a shot at my sister. I think I recall that. But she got one of your buddies, didn't she?"

Andy averted his gaze, suddenly finding the floor a very interesting sight to behold. "He's in the hospital at the corner of Walsh street and Point road."

Kyle wrapped up the rest of the interrogation with ease, and Jane admired his skill at this. She'd never really enjoyed this part of the job after all, she'd rather be roaming the streets. She was glad when they were finished and they were freed from the little room. It had slowly grown stuffy and uncomfortable.

The case was a relatively easy starting case, but Kyle was happy with the day's work. He ranted to Jane the excitement of being back to work, and she was glad when he offered to drive home.

"I'll meet you at the clunker. I've got to go turn this form in."

Kyle frowned, "A form for what?"

Jane shrugged, "Lab safety or something of the like. I forgot to turn it in earlier."

"Oh, well have fun with that," and he smiled a big goofy grin. Some people were just cheered on by the prospect of murder, Jane thought.

He disappeared into the elevator and Jane shook her head contentedly as she walked towards Mac's office. At least the move had made Kyle happy. Mac looked up from his desk as he saw Jane nearing the door. Jane could only imagine what had made him such a taciturn person. He waved her in, no doubt remembering their earlier disagreement.

"Is there something you need?"

"Yeah, sort of. I forgot to turn this in earlier." Jane handed him the form, and he placed it on his desk in the mess of papers. Mac caught the slightest bit of hesitation in Jane's step as she turned to leave. She stayed where she was and met Mac's gaze evenly.

"Anything else?" He asked as he leaned back in his chair. He tossed the folder of the case he had been reading over onto the desk lightly.

"Yeah," again Jane faltered, as if she was looking for words. "I think we got off on the wrong foot, Mac. Setting out after Andy was not something I did intentionally, but I think I shouldn't have acted on instinct."

Mac nodded his assent, "That's true, but I can see why you did it. Had I been in your place I would have done the same thing."

Jane smiled lightly, "I think most people would, but that doesn't make it right."

"No, it doesn't, but it makes it easier to understand." Mac paused for a moment, thinking, "Kyle told me that you really liked your job before you came here, and I read your profile. You did a lot of good work and were well decorated for some of the things you did. I can understand rash actions, but what I can't understand is why you gave up your work as a handler."

Mac kept his gaze level with Jane's. Jane sighed deeply and shifted her feet, she would have preferred to lean on something, but the air didn't look too stable.

"A lot of people thought what I did was amazing, that the people I helped and saved were people I'd remember forever. I wish it was like that and that I could remember the finest part of my job." Jane's eyes paled, something that Mac found strikingly sorrowful. Surprisingly it was the first time he'd noticed her eyes, it might have been the only difference between her brother and her.

Instead of Kyle's steady green eyes that raced with thought, Jane's eyes were faded as if she'd seen too much for one lifetime. Mac found he felt compelled to keep eye contact with her.

"But I don't. The thing I remember the most about every night spent out on a lonely street in the rain is the people that asked me for the help I couldn't give." The remorse in her eyes was almost tangible from where Mac sat.

"One way I always described being a K9 was freedom. Somewhere in between the moment when you're unclipping the tether and cuffing the guy you just caught, for just the briefest of moments, you're free. But that freedom comes with a price, and being a CSI makes it easier to breathe. Knowing you couldn't have saved them is almost a comfort."

Mac nodded, digesting Jane's words. He could relate. "You didn't have to tell me this,"

Jane shrugged, "I didn't, but sometimes it just makes it a little easier to breathe." Mac thought he saw the traces of a smile somewhere on Jane's face, but she turned for the door, dispelling the effect.

Mac stopped her in the door way and she turned to face him once more. "Are you going to be a problem for me?" His question was blunt, but Jane showed no sign of surprise.

Jane met makes gaze squarely. "I haven't decided yet."

* * *

A woman screaming, the alarms ringing in her mind. Kryptonite's barking and the sound of feet striking the pavement. And then Jane was after him, a hooded figure in jeans and black sneakers. The woman in front of him just wouldn't let go, but Jane did.

Kryptonite was snarling a guttural growl of warning when Jane unclipped the tether and let the dog go with a single word of command. Kryptonite already knew who to attack, who to savage. They were getting good at this, the two of them. That's what Jane was thinking when the first shot rang out.

And then the woman was on the ground, suddenly very quiet. Her purse was gone, and so was the mugger. Kryptonite stayed in pursuit despite his training to neglect the hunt at the sound of gunshots. They disappeared further down the street as the first crack of thunder shook the night.

Jane remembered kneeling by the woman and deftly dialing 911 on her cell phone, she remembered fighting the urge to gag on the metallic reek of blood. Somewhere in the night she heard the second shot. Then the second scream of agony and the plea for help.

And all the faces came back to her.

Jane bolted up right in bed, dragging in a fresh breath of cool and clean air. She could hear the bustling of the city streets, the snoring of Kryptonite beside her, and the steady beat of her heart. She rubbed her eyes and reached for her phone which was lying on a brown box beside her bed.

1:37.

Wonderful. Jane got up anyways, she knew sleep would evade her for some time more. She nudged Kryptonite awake as well, she jerked her head towards the door.

"Outside?"

Kryptonite rolled over and leaped down from the bed, he shook himself out and trotted tiredly to the door while Jane found jeans and a loose T-Shirt. She found Kryptonite's leash and left the apartment. She didn't bother to leave a note for Kyle, she'd be back before he woke, she always was. Whenever Jane couldn't sleep she went out in search of the comfort of her old life.

Along the street she walked, her faithful dog at her side. She tucked her hands into her pockets, the leash still in hand. For a moment she felt almost alright, but then she looked up and suddenly missed a sky clear of skyscrapers.

It seemed so far away now, the home she loved, the one she grew up in. The place she worked, the people she worked with, it was all gone. They were all so far away. All driven away by a bustling city that Jane despised. Even the usually star streaked sky that she remembered in Florida was now just a bleak sweep of bleak black.

Faintly Jane wondered if she would be driven away like all the rest.

* * *

**So that's it for the first case. The next chapter will start a new case, one that'll be a bit longer and a bit more heated. Please read and review!**


	7. Get Your Balls, We're Going Bowling

**Chapter 7. It's a bit short, and I hardly ever post new chapters for this story, but I've got a whole lot of new ideas for cases I'm planning right now, so there should be plenty more on the way. =)**

* * *

The incessant ringing echoed through Jane's mind as she grumbled her away through the lab, her expression something less than gruff. It was early, too early in fact, for her to be up and happy about it. She was leaning against a table in the lab's break room, trying with intense care to stay awake. Hey eyelids simply felt too heavy though, and slowly they slid shut for what had to be the tenth time that morning.

"Good morning sunshine!" Someone cheered at her suddenly. Jane jolted awake at the sound of Danny's voice.

"I wasn't sleeping."

Danny smiled, "Of course not sunshine."

Jane shrugged herself up right and Danny pushed a cup of coffee into her hands. "Thanks…"

"Not a problem, where's your twin?"

Jane took a sip of coffee, the warm succulent drink roused a bit of wakefulness in Jane, and she tried to stand a little straighter. "He's at home, probably up and eating breakfast or unpacking boxes. He's a morning person."

Danny nodded and leaned on another table across from Jane. "And what does that make you?"

Jane scoffed, "Very irked."

He grinned, and Jane realized that he too must be a morning person or at least used to the occasional early workdays.

"So what's new today?" Jane asked, changing the subject.

Danny shrugged, "The weather is supposed to be rainy."

Jane's eyes brightened at that, "You're not serious are you?"

"Oh no, I am. We've got like a sixty percent chance of rain. It's bound to put a damper on anyone's day."

Jane was smiling now, "Not mine. I love the rain."

"Of course you do, you're from Florida, don't you guys have like cyclones there or something?"

"They're hurricanes actually, and they're wonderful. So far New York has yet to offer me something that strands my family in a house on the outskirts of town while the wind and rain threatens to drag the roof off."

Danny arched his eyebrows at her, "Now why wouldn't I want to visit Florida?" he murmured, a sarcastic edge shadowing his tone.

Jane only smiled wider at him, her annoyance from the morning slightly soothed. She'd thought of something that might just get a laugh out of Danny when Mac walked in. As usual, he was all business with a case folder in one hand and a grim look on his face.

"Are you two ready for a case?"

Danny and Jane exchanged looks and then nodded. "Sure," Danny said, "What've you got for us?"

"A man was found dead in a bowling alley this morning."

Jane nodded her head appreciatively, "It can't get much better than that," she observed, liking the prospect of visiting a bowling alley.

Mac frowned suddenly, "Danny, where's Lindsey?"

Danny straightened up, "Oh, sorry Mac, I forgot to tell you she stayed home with the flu today."

Mac bit his lip, "Someone else will have to fill in for her, unless you two want to work the case alone."

Jane shrugged, "I could always ask Kyle," she offered.

"That sounds good," Danny agreed, "I think I'd like working with the twins on this case."

Mac eyed Jane skeptically, "You're sure Kyle won't mind working the day shift?"

"Are you kidding? He's going to jump for joy when he finds out."

"Good, keep me in the loop," Mac told them before he turned and headed back out into the Lab.

"I guess we'll just pick up Kyle on the way then?" Danny suggested, and Jane nodded.

"Definitely."

* * *

Jane led Danny up the flights of stairs that led to her shared apartment, stopping at the door to unlock it with her key. On the other side of the door loud steps slammed against the wooden floor and Danny frowned.

"What in the world is that?"

A loud bark erupted on the other side of the door as Jane turned the key in the lock.

"It's just the dog. Don't worry I fed him this morning, he shouldn't be hungry enough to eat anyone just yet."

Jane pushed the door open, gesturing for Danny to follow. She paused to pet the dog who greeted her docilely, whining lightly and pawing at her until she paid him her respects. Danny followed suit, petting Kryptonite when the burly dog sniffed at him.

"I think he likes you," Jane observed.

Danny scratched the German Shepherd behind the ears and the dog gave an appreciative whine. "What makes you say that?"

"Well, he hasn't bitten you."

Danny nodded, "Right." His gaze shifted to the apartment, taking in the sight of the many boxes that had yet to be unpacked. In the kitchen they heard the clatter of dishes and the sound of water splashing into a sink.

"Hey Danny," Kyle called, looking a bit surprised but not displeased. "Hello Jane. What's wrong, did you forget something?"

Danny smiled, "Nope, we just came by to tell you to get your balls, we're going bowling."

Kyle's eyebrows rose at that, "I'm sorry?"

Jane rolled her eyes, a grin lighting her face as she passed her brother on the way to the fridge. "He's kidding, there's a dead guy at a bowling alley, Lindsey called in. We came to see if you wanted to fill in for her."

Kyle's eyes brightened, "Oh definitely! Let me just change."

"You know I've always found it quite odd the way murder excites you," Jane said to him, smiling.

"What can I say, I like puzzles. I'll be right back. Make yourself at home Danny."

Danny shrugged and followed Jane to the kitchen, admiring the clean countertops. "This place is spotless, except for the boxes. Do you do the cleaning?"

"I despise cleaning with a passion, and Kyle is a neat freak. I assume you drink water?"

Danny nodded, "I do."

Jane pulled two waters from the fridge and handed one to him, "That's another one of Kyle's nice character traits. He's all about eating healthy."

"And how's that working out for you?"

Jane sighed, "I've been in New York for almost a week, and I'm not allowed to have pizza until next Wednesday because it is in fact high in cholesterol."

Danny's eyebrows rose curiously, "Oh really?"

"Really. I'm guessing you don't want any saltine crackers or anything, do you? They taste almost exactly like sand, but they're high in protein," Jane promised.

"As appetizing as that sounds, I think I'll pass."

Jane smiled, "Good, because I fed them all to the dog last night."

"You did what?" Kyle said as he closed his bedroom door in a hall that branched off from the kitchen. He'd pulled on a clean shirt and jeans, and his hair looked ever so slightly neater than it had been before. Jane just blinked at him, her eyes hiding a curve of a smile.

"Nothing. Nothing at all."

"I always saw the family resemblance between the two of you, I just didn't think I'd get to hear it too," Danny mentioned after a sip of water.

"Well you're in for it now," Jane told him cheerily before heading towards the door, a merry smirk tugging at the corners of her mouth.

* * *

"I do believe I see dead people," Danny announced, his gaze lingering over the body. The middle aged man lay splayed across lane sixteen, his lifeless eyes wide open and staring at the ceiling tiles above. A patch of dried blood crusted one temple and matted a bit of the salt and pepper hair that grew there. The rest of the man was easy to store in one's mind. A bowling shirt, short black sleeves and blue torso with black buttons down the middle. Dark dress pants, not too fancy but good enough for a bowling league. A rented pair of AMF shoes with mismatching laces of neon green and black. And then of course there was the name, sewn to the shirt front in elegant green letters that were delicately spattered with blood.

"This should be interesting…" Kyle murmured from where he crouched beside the body, his feet resting in the gutter of the lane. Not far away the lolling head of the victim rested lifelessly.

"It looks like someone's got there head in the gutter," Jane said, staring at the body. She'd never thought she'd eve be able to say such a thing, and yet here she was, speaking literally and metaphorically about a dead person.

"Now we just gotta find out who put it there," Danny murmured.

Kyle sighed, "I amend my statement. This _will _be interesting."

* * *

**So that's Chapter 7. Please read and review. =) A bit of inspiration would do wonders for this story, so feel free to run some ideas by me. =)**


	8. Mangled

**Chapter 8! Took me millions of years, but it's here. I sort of consider this somewhat of a dead story. I can never tell if anyone is still interested in this or not.**

* * *

"You any good at bowling?"

Kyle shrugged at Danny, "Not really. I used to bowl on a league with Jane, but work got in the way, and we never really did that great anyways. What about you?"

"I'd like to say I'm alright. I'm not a pro, but I'm not bad either."

The two investigators were picking over the lane, going over it inch by inch from the sanded approach to the very end of the lane. Over sixty-two feet of oiled wood lay waiting for their inspection. At the far end of the lane Jane was doing the same, working backwards to meet them in the middle. The coroners had collected the body, and Flack was questioning the manager.

"I always liked the smell of bowling alleys," Kyle said, not sure why.

Danny's eyebrows rose at that, "Oh yeah, the wonderful reek of worn shoes and burnt pizza. Wonderful."

A smile brightened Kyle's face. "It was a family thing, when we were younger. Our parents always took us bowling. Some people look up at the night sky and remember a camping trip they took with their family. I smell foot jam, and remember days spent rolling rocks at pins."

"Is that what they call bowling balls back then? Rocks?"

"It's what they called them when my Dad was growing up," Kyle said. His voice held the warmth of fond memories. How long had it been since he'd been in a bowling alley? Kyle could not remember when or why he had stayed away. Sighing, he went back to focusing on his work.

They did not find much on the first twenty feet of lane before the body's resting place. So far the man remained a John Doe, but by the look of the his attire he was a regular at the bowling alley. Kyle did not think it would be long before someone came up with a name.

In the meanwhile he and Danny picked over every inch of the lane, walking along the lane dividers and shining their lights down on the wood. The light glistened oddly on the oil, and looking closely Kyle could see where the man had slid, leaving gaps in the thin sheen. "The patterns on these lanes look the same," Danny said. He'd moved over to look at the nearby lanes, looking for similar distortions. "The Vic mopped up some oil on this lane and left gaps in this pattern." He gestured towards the Vic's lane.

Kyle nodded his agreement. "It looks almost as if he was dragged part of the way."

"Like someone wanted him to be right here," Danny mused. "Why would they do that?"

"Some sick and twisted way at revenge?"

Danny shrugged. "Could be."

Wordlessly they continued investigating, taking note of other oddities and clues. Kyle looked towards his sister, and wondered if she had found anything. He knew in an instant that she was in another world. He could see from the way she balanced her weight on her haunches that she was thinking, piecing it together in her head.

_The picture of patience, _Kyle thought, a smile tugging at his lips.

* * *

Jane crouched, elbows on her knees, dismay twisting one corner of her lip. She tapped her flashlight against her hand, thinking. She had never been any good at this sort of work. Personally, she had always hated puzzles. Jane much more preferred card games. Simple rounds of Go Fish that were quick and to the point. This was something intolerable, something so irritating it took a great deal of Jane's will to resist from breaking the metal bracket above her head.

For several long moments she considered it. How hard would she have to hit the pinsetter to bring it crashing down?

With no patience for the task at all, Jane sat fighting her annoyance until Kyle came to sit beside her.

"Find anything?"

She could feel his gaze following hers, and she stubbornly refused to look at him.

"No. I didn't. You?"

"Footprints, maybe. Danny's photographing ones left in the oil. Looks like an uncommon tread pattern. Might be helpful."

Jane waved her hand in assent, "That's good."

A moment of silent passed between them. "What are you thinking?"

Another brief silence before Jane spoke. "How does a bloody bowling pin get jammed in the pinsetter?"

Kyle's eyes followed Jane's gaze. His eyebrows rose as he looked up at the metal pinsetter. Four pins rested in their rightful places on in the rack while two or three others were jammed in the frame. The bottom of one pin was misshapen and smeared with blood.

"That's a good question," he remarked, studying the sight with intense care.

"Isn't it? I snapped some photos, but I can't help but wonder how tight it's jammed." Jane passed him the camera. "Hold this?"

Kyle took the camera and watched as Jane scuttled forward, slipping into the space allowed for the gutter and climbing up into the metal rigging. Her brother passed her the camera and watched the flash as Jane went to work.

"Flack came down to talk to us. He says he doesn't know who the Vic is, but he thinks he can narrow it down to someone from last night's league. Flack rounded up most of the employees who worked last night. No one's said much, and one of them is making a big fuss over it all."

Kyle couldn't be sure if his sister had heard him or not, since she didn't deign to reply. He was rising when she finally spoke.

"I'd put my money on him," Jane told him. Kyle could hear the slight smile in her voice.

"You'll be alright here for a moment?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

Without another word Kyle stood and headed back down the lane, stooping once to pick up what looked to be a thin bit of grey tube. He didn't remember noticing it on his way down. He was tucking it into an evidence bag and sealing it off when the pinsetter shuddered to life behind him.

* * *

From where Jane was she could maneuver around the pinsetter to a narrow hall behind the lanes. The pin deck was a good four feet long, with places marked for each pin. From the end of the pin deck to the wall was a space of about ten feet of sloped wood that funneled both the bowling balls and the pins back into their rightful places. She took several more photographs and shifted from her perch.

Jane spotted a narrow cleft that led to a long and narrow space behind the machine, and the flash of the camera brightened things considerably. Jane guessed it was a place for the workers to get to the pinsetters and such.

_One more photo, _she thought, hoping to get a clearer shot of something that looked like a misplaced tool.

If only it were.

The brilliant white flash lasted only a second, but that was all that was needed to cast a man's shadow across the wall in the narrow hall.

"Sir, you're not supposed to—"

A low rumble broke over Jane's words, and the framework around her shuddered suddenly. Jane had enough time to jerk sideways and throw a hand up over her face before the pinsetter lurched and dropped.

* * *

Kyle turned, his breath catching in his throat. The lights that lit the pins flicked to life, illuminating clearly the pinsetter as it came down. Jane came before it, thudding against the pin deck beneath her. The pinsetter came down further still, forcing Jane flat against the ground. She might have been alright if her arm hadn't been caught in a bracket off to one side, wrenching her sideways as the pinsetter held her down. Somewhere behind him Kyle could hear Danny yelling.

"Turn it off!"

The pins that had been caught in the metal workings of the pinsetter showed briefly before the machine rose again, spitting out several loose pins before it did. Jerkily the machine lifted, and Jane was drug after it.

Nightmare was the word that rang in Kyle's mind.

* * *

Jane clenched her teeth to fight back a scream as her arm was wrenched free of it's socket. She could almost have believed her hand had been accidentally caught, with the cold press of something metal surrounding her wrist. But that wasn't the only thing that pulled on her hand. The warm press of fingers was there too, fingers that wrapped around her hand and dragged her up against her will. When the pinsetter had pressed her flat against the lane the hand had pulled, and Jane's shoulder had let go of her arm with a sickening little pop.

That time Jane did cry out.

Now she could feel something could and sharp digging into her wrist as someone pried her fingers away from the camera she still clutched. Jane had wrapped her hand in the strap, but they were cutting that away along with her hand.

Panic twined with fear screamed in her head, and she let go to fall back onto the lane beneath her. She landed on a pin and twisted to the side to pull her hand close to her, feeling a stream of blood, warm and slick, spilling from the cut. Above her in the workspace allotted for the pinsetter she could hear someone scrambling free of the metal rigging and back into the narrow hall behind her machine.

Suddenly the rumble ceased and the lights went off.

* * *

Kyle was there not a moment later, pulling Jane's huddled form off the pin deck. She flinched sharply when he touched her shoulder, and her gaze flicked to his for one horrid moment. Kyle did not have to be her twin to read both the pain and the trace of wild panic in her eyes. When his eyes found the trail of blood she'd left she tucked her hand closer to her and shook her head.

"I'm okay," she ground out, but Kyle didn't believe her. Approaching steps rang out as Kyle gently drew his sister closer. He considered carrying her, but the idea was quickly struck down by the lethal look Jane shot at him. He settled instead for helping her up. She kept her arm away from him, wrapped in the fabric of her shirt. Kyle could see a blossom of red seeping past her hand.

"What happened?" he asked, trying to breathe steadily. "Are you alright?" Danny said as he stopped short. His eyes shifted to Jane's hand.

"Fine," she said. "There's someone back there, they wanted the camera."

Flack, who was only a breath behind Danny, had the same look of dismay on his face that Kyle wore. "They didn't turn the lane on from the counter, they said someone did it manually. From the machine. I thought you might've slipped and hit something." The detective was already looking towards one end of the alley, where workers could slip behind the lanes to get to the pinsetters. Danny looked the other way.

"I'll take Jane," Kyle told them, not waiting for their response. Wordlessly they moved off to opposite sides of the bowling alley, and Jane realized that it was likely they had worked together for years.

"Did you catch your hand on something?" Jane shook her head. "At first I thought I did, but someone was holding on to the camera. When I didn't let go they pulled a knife. I—I don't think it's that bad."

For the second time Kyle found himself not trusting his sister's words. "And your arm?" He could see the way her shoulder drooped at an odd angle.

"Not where it should be," she told him. This time Kyle was sure he heard the pain in her voice. He led her off the lane, one arm around her protectively.

"I got a picture of him."

Kyle was busy thinking of all the ways he could beat the stuffing out of the man who'd cut his sister's wrist when her voice jolted him from his thoughts.

"What?"

"When he had my hand I took a picture of his face," she told him. "It was dark, but the flash was on. I think I pissed him off."

As if in response to Jane's observation, a gunshot split the air. The few people who'd been gathered around the counter at the front of the bowling alley let out screams, and Kyle shoved his sister up the few steps off the lanes and to the lobby.

"Get down!" He shouted.

The lanes were a good two or three feet below the level of the rest of the bowling alley, and flanking the steps were long grey counters that made a sort of division between bowlers and bystanders. Kyle ducked behind one of them, kneeling by the top of the stairs. Beside him Jane had done the same and crouched there, still holding onto her wrist.

Kyle pulled his gun from it's place at his hip and took careful stock of the situation. Danny and Flack had each gone to the separate ends of the bowling alley, and Kyle couldn't be sure from where the gunman would emerge.

Left, or right?

There was little time to consider, and Kyle rose and headed instinctively towards the right. It was hard to say that Kyle's luck paid off.

A man came bounding up the steps towards the door on the far wall in front of Kyle, his eyes as wild as the frantic waving of the gun in his hand. A friend of Kyle had once told him that he had the look of a cop about him, and that even without the badge showing it was plain as day. Kyle did not believe the man before him held any admiration for policemen, not with that grimace.

"NYPD!"

Kyle's voice was drowned out by the first shot the man fired at him. He later learned that the bullet struck a chair nearby, but he certainly hadn't seen it then.

All Kyle saw was the man in the dark shirt in front of him scream as he slumped to the floor, clutching the bloody pant leg of his jeans.

* * *

**That's it for Chapter 8. It's rather short, but hopefully I will update sooner in case anyone is reading. =) If you are, let me know your thoughts on this. Nothing encourages me to write more but knowing someone's reading. =)**


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